State Budget
Corporate Welfare in the 2024–25 Budget
Summary Pennsylvania’s economy is largely uncompetitive, with the state routinely losing businesses and residents to more economically competitive states like Florida, North Carolina, and Texas. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget proposes…
Read More: Corporate Welfare in the 2024–25 BudgetPennsylvania’s complex state budget has enabled policymakers to keep taxpayers in the dark when it comes to state spending. Year after year, some elected officials use budget gimmicks to both make the budget appear balanced and to secure their own agendas. Pennsylvanians deserve reforms that bring true transparency to the budgeting process. We must limit spending growth to a sustainable rate, ensuring the state government—like hardworking taxpayers—live within its means.
2024 state budget resources
State Budget
Pennsylvania growing a gut, We need fiscal corset
Editorial from the Press Enterprise on the need for fiscal restraint in Pennsylvania.
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Read More: Pennsylvania growing a gut, We need fiscal corsetState Budget
How States are Solving the Tax and Spending Problem
An overview of the provisions of various tax and spending limit initiatives on the ballot in other states, from the National Taxpayers Union.
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Read More: How States are Solving the Tax and Spending ProblemGovernment Accountability
Lack of evidence to support raise
Scranton Times-Tribune editorial takes on Chief Justice Cappy’s defense of a judicial pay raise.
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Read More: Lack of evidence to support raiseGovernment Accountability
Chief Justice calls pay raises vital to strong judiciary : The Morning Call Online
Chief Justice Cappy is back to defending the judicial pay raise, calling it his “moral duty to seek pay raises for state judges” in The Morning Call. Read…
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Will the GOP learn its lesson on pork?
John Fund in today’s Wall Street Journal.
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Transportation Pork
Here is the listing of the $706 million in federal Transportation Earmarks for PA cited in my testimony today.
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Read More: Transportation PorkGovernment Accountability
Judicial Pay After Court Ruling
Here is what PA judges will make following the court ruling reinstating the judicial pay raise: http://mail.comfdnprod.wpengine.com/judgespay.pdf…
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Read More: Judicial Pay After Court RulingState Budget
“Pork” database passed
Reuters Story on the passage of legislation that would create a new web database of all pork barrel grants. Hopefully transparency is but the first step in reducing wasteful…
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Read More: “Pork” database passedGovernment Accountability
Judicial pay raise outrage
WHP CBS21 coverage of the pay raise ruling, featuring video of our very own Matthew Brouillette talking with angry callers.
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Read More: Judicial pay raise outrageGovernment Accountability
Summary of Supreme Court Ruling on Pay Raise
The PA Supreme Court Opinion on the pay raise, issued today (view the last two pages for the Conclusion) makes the following decisions: 1) The repeal (Act 72 of…
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Read More: Summary of Supreme Court Ruling on Pay RaiseState Budget
Earmark Showdown
Wall Street Journal article on a couple of bills expected to come up in Congress this week that would address pork barrel spending. While these bills wouldn’t reduce spending,…
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Read More: Earmark ShowdownRegulation
Getting state legislators to work is costly
Post-Gazette article on the cost to taxpayers of the travel of several state lawmakers. Just another example of a failure of many in cover to be frugal when someone…
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Read More: Getting state legislators to work is costlyState Budget
States Looking to Spending Caps
While legislation limiting the growth of state spending in Pennsylvania (the “Taxpayer Fairness Act”) has stalled in the House Rules Committee, at least six states will be having ballot initiatives…
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Budgeting in Neverland
Policy Analysis from the Cato Institute on how Congress overspends because they only hear from the spending lobby, not taxpayers, during the budget process. The same can be said…
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Whiskey and Car Keys
Author P.J. O’Rourke once wrote: “Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.” He must have been thinking about Gov. Rendell and…
Commentary
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Governor Rendell’s Sense of Irony
On the anniversary of the 2005 pay raise, Governor Rendell will be handing out pork in the Capitol … non-metaphorical pork in this case. From News Release: HARRISBURG…
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Budget Coverage
Some press coverage of the late night/early morning state budget deal: Herald Standard (Commonwealth Foundation quoted)Pittsburgh TribPost Gazette (Commonwealth Foundation quoted)Philadelphia Inquirer (Commonwealth…
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Rendell: Budget Could Be Worse
Governor Rendell names states who will be increasing their budgets faster than PA. Ironically, his list is identical to our list of “States we least want to emulate.” From…
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Budget expected to win support
Budget story in the Patriot-News… “Democrats are having a field day watching the Republicans help negotiate a budget that spends more than the 4 percent increase Rendell proposed in…
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Read More: Budget expected to win supportRegulation
Senators vs. Pork
Not a game between minor league baseball teams, but three State Senators (Jane Orie, R-Allison Park, Pat Vance, R-Silver Spring Twp, and Pat Browne, R-Allentown) trying to Shift Focus…
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Read More: Senators vs. PorkRegulation
Oink-oink: Spend, spend, spend
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editorial on corporate welfare and ‘walking around money’: “Better for Pennsylvanians if their money never ‘walked’ at all.”…
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